Monroe police said they had found between one and two ounces of gamma-hydroxybutyrate - a colorless liquid known as GHB or Liquid X on the street - in a soda bottle in the car that the students had driven to school. Police said last night that lab tests confirmed the substance was GHB. Drug charges against the students are pending, police said.
It was the second time this month that students in the region have been hospitalized after taking drugs and falling ill. On Jan. 8, 28 students at Roberto Clemente Middle School in North Philadelphia were treated after taking powerful doses of the prescription antianxiety drug Xanax.
Like ecstasy, GHB is one of the so-called rave or club drugs meant to produce a fast, cheap high. Its knockout effect also puts GHB in a league with other "date-rape" drugs, such as Rohypnol. "I have never heard of this stuff before," said Vincent Tarantino, assistant superintendent in the Monroe Township School District. "It must be the new drug of choice."
GHB, once sold over the counter, is an addictive central nervous system depressant that can be bought illegally over the Internet or brewed at home using a mix of paint stripper and drain cleaner, which are neutralized in the cooking process.
Sometimes the drug is sold as "nail polish remover" or "CD cleaner" on Web sites seeking to avoid detection by authorities, said Trinka Porrata, a former Los Angeles narcotics detective who is one of the nation's top experts on GHB.
"How many women do you know would pay $60, $80 or $100 for a bottle of nail polish remover?" Porrata asked.
GHB also is known as "liquid ecstasy," "G," "Gamma-Oh," "Georgia Home Boy," "Easy Lay," "Grievous Bodily Harm," "Great Hormones at Bedtime," "Soap," "G-Riffick," and "Cherry Meth."
